KL Report
SRINAGAR
The Kashmir apple industry is likely to have very tough competition ahead as the enterprising people in tropical Karnataka are experimenting in growing apples, sources said.
Apples are mostly cultivated in the cold regions of Jammu and Kashmir and Himachal Pradesh.
A horticulture scientist Chiranjit Parmar from Himachal Pradesh has been providing technical know-how to growers in Karnataka.
“The plantation is in the experimentation stage and its commercial cultivation is yet to take root,” sources said.
Parmar has reportedly said it could be done in other tropical areas like Kerala and Tamil Nadu where there is virtually no winter season and it would revolutionise India’s apple cultivation.
“The apple plantation in Karnataka has started bearing fruit in less than two years. Normally, it takes six-seven years in the hills,” Parmar said.
Sources said that the first apple saplings were planted in 2011 in Karnataka. “Now more than 6,000 saplings have been planted across Karnataka, mainly in Coorg, Tumkur, Chikmanglur and Shimoga areas,” they added.
